During Nintendo's 2017 Treehouse stream, Ubisoft Milan's Creative Director Davide Soliani and Producer Xavier Manzanares hopped on stage to show off more footage of Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle being played live. However, both of the passionate developers had some more details to reveal about some of the surprising depth behind the turn-based tactical gameplay.

As we detailed during the official reveal trailer at Ubisoft's E3 2017 conference, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle is essentially a family friendly version of XCOM with players assuming the roles of classic Mario characters and Rabbids as they take turns fighting other Rabbids with strategic movement and ability usage. From being able to jump across the battlefield in giant leaps to taking cover, the game presents a lot of deep encounters with varying enemy types and loads of skills to unlock as you try to restore the Mushroom Kingdom to its former glory.

In regard to new details during the Treehouse live stream, Soliani and Manzanares talked about how they intentionally built plenty of gaps between battlefields to encourage using the jump mechanic, which breakable cover and verticality in later levels ensure as well. They also mentioned how weapons will not only vary in effectiveness for certain types of Rabbids, but can also create traps that they could get stuck in. Residual effects such as fire damage (and presumably other elements) can also chain to other enemies if they are in close proximity, which only creates more opportunities for truly thinking ahead and using weapons wisely.

The most prominent point centered on revealing the hub world of Peach's Castle. The developers mention how you don't actually "kill" the Rabbids but free them from this mysterious force, which frees them to return to Peach's Castle and help rebuild the area surrounding it with new puzzles and buildings to visit. Early on, this will include the Battle HQ where you can change out your team members, play around with skill trees, and purchase new primary and secondary equipment. Collectables and multiple kinds of coins will be spread throughout the detailed environments as well to be on the lookout for.

What's most appealing about Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle is the sheer love and skill that seems to be put into it, as Soliani makes clear when he mentions how they had three and a half weeks to prepare a demo for Shigeru Miyamoto. If there's one thing we didn't expect to say during E3 2017, it's that this title might just be a big, solid hit for the Switch when it releases on Aug. 29. You can check out the announcement trailer from Ubisoft's conference below.

If you want to know more about this and other announcements happening at E3 then be sure to check out our E3 2017 Coverage Hub.

Do you find yourself being pulled toward the unexpected gameplay behind Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle? What other kinds of abilities, enemy types, and levels do you think will appear throughout the Mushroom Kingdom? Go Rabbid in the comments section to tell us what you think!

About the Author

I'm a part-time videogame journalist with a BA in Game and Interactive Media Design and an MA in Writing Studies. I bleed theology, sci-fi, and fantasy. I grew up with Spyro and Crash on the PlayStation and love FPS, action-RPG, and platformer games. For more of my antics, mosey on over to Push Square and Gamechurch.